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I call him Captain Marvel. Shazam was the name of the Wizard. It is the BS with Marvel owning a trademark so they can only call him that in comics and not as a title or in other media. Despite the fact that Fawcett debuted him LONG before.

growing up I always called him shazam. It wasn't till I got older that I figured out his name was Capt. Marvel which at the time made no sense to me since he wasn't a marvel character so I still call him Shazam to this day.

growing up I always called him shazam. It wasn't till I got older that I figured out his name was Capt. Marvel which at the time made no sense to me since he wasn't a marvel character so I still call him Shazam to this day.

I was the same way. In fact, casuals know Captain Marvel better as Shazam, which was the reason for the change anyway.

I was the same way. In fact, casuals know Captain Marvel better as Shazam, which was the reason for the change anyway.

Yeah, the whole thing with Marvel comics is one reason for the name change but the MAIN reason is that Shazam is more marketable than Captain Marvel and the last thing DC wants to do is to continually keep putting the name Marvel out there associated with this character.

First off, the reason for the mess is the lawsuit that DC pursued for almost a decade against Fawcett. DC said Captain Marvel (who at one point was the best-selling comic of the 1940's) was a Superman rip-off. The lawsuit was portracted, but eventually the court decided in the favor of National (DC) and Fawcett had to make a settlement that included never again publishing a comic with Captain Marvel in it.

Predictably, this led to Fawcett going under rather quickly.

National/DC then purchased the inventory and all characters during the liquidation, but didn't do much with them until the 1970's. During this period (between when Fawcett were forced to stop publishing Captain Marvel and when DC decided to reactivate the characters), Marvel had already introduced and copyrighted their character called Captain Marvel. This of course is the alien Kree Mar-Vell, who for a bit was a homage to Billy Batson in that he and Rock Jones switched places when they struck their nega-bands together. Regardless, Marvel now owned the copyright and were unwilling to relinquish it.

Due to this, DC started publishing their Captain Marvel revival under the name "Shazam". They had slightly earlier moonlighted a Captain Marvel-lookalike called Captain Thunder (one of Marvel's suggested original names when the character was created) and that had gone well, so DC got original Marvel Family artist and scribe C.C. Beck in to do the art. Now, DC only had to avoid calling the titles Captain Marvel. They were totally fine to name the character such IN THE STORIES, but the comics could not be titled Captain Marvel. This eventually extended to other adaptions as well, such as toys. To maintain hold on the copyright, Marvel has to actively use it, which is the reason that at least once every five years, Marvel publishes a title called "Captain Marvel".

Now this arrangement lasted for some time, but since DC is jumping on the marketing badnwagon more and more recently (as is Marvel), they were starting to feel the strain of the "the character is named this but we can't use it" arrangement, and decided to just rename him "Shazam". Why they didn't just rename him Captain Thunder is beyond me, but hey, here we are.

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

I understand the reasoning behind it, but as my comic shows, it does NOT work!! They need to change the magic word he says then.

That's fixed now. In the N52 new canon you do not transform back and forth unless you want to when you say the magic word, so Billy can say Shazam all day and not change as long as he doesn't want to. That also fixes the previous weakness of having someone force or mind control the Marvels... er... Shazams into saying their magic words.

The bad: more DCNU. Looks like DC officially has decreed that nothing that existed before two years ago shall ever again see figure form.

The good: it looks like the only holdover from older figures is a limited elbow joint (looks about 45 degrees, still). IF the joints and materials are sturdier than the resin-y type plastic they usually use, these are actual, full fledged action figures I'm seriously considering buying, even if they aren't the classic versions. If they start using this style of articulation from here on in, my local comic shop owner is going to be very happy with DCC and me...

"I will use this power for all the good that can be done, to work for peace, to encourage virtue, and above all, to preserve life in all its forms..." Superman

The bad: more DCNU. Looks like DC officially has decreed that nothing that existed before two years ago shall ever again see figure form.

The good: it looks like the only holdover from older figures is a limited elbow joint (looks about 45 degrees, still). IF the joints and materials are sturdier than the resin-y type plastic they usually use, these are actual, full fledged action figures I'm seriously considering buying, even if they aren't the classic versions. If they start using this style of articulation from here on in, my local comic shop owner is going to be very happy with DCC and me...

In case they make someone I need in my collection... What's the scale look like in comparison to DCIE/DCUC?

The bad: more DCNU. Looks like DC officially has decreed that nothing that existed before two years ago shall ever again see figure form.

The good: it looks like the only holdover from older figures is a limited elbow joint (looks about 45 degrees, still). IF the joints and materials are sturdier than the resin-y type plastic they usually use, these are actual, full fledged action figures I'm seriously considering buying, even if they aren't the classic versions. If they start using this style of articulation from here on in, my local comic shop owner is going to be very happy with DCC and me...

I was really impressed with the way Johnny Quick looks. I may have to pick him up for my Crime Synidcate shelf (Even though I love all the other Mattel versions, I wish the Johnny quick they had put out had googles or something. It would make him look a little less goofy.)

I may also pick up Anarky. Again, it depends on how well they translate in mass production.

This was confirmed at NYCC - they will be quarterly figures, going up on sale day in March, June, September and December, respectively. I think they'll be $25 each - as far as I know, it's first-come, first-served. (I don't know if early access counts.)

Doomsday (Containment suit) will be the SDCC exclusive next year, for $35, I believe.

They stressed that this was it for DCUC - these are the last five figures.

I'll be skipping Aquaman and Superboy, but will likely get the other 3.

I can't believe they won't make the Tier 2 Doomsday as well. The Containment version is cool but the other is the Doomsday I think most of us have been asking them to make. Aquaman and Superboy look good to me, although I'm not happy with Conner's face.

After that I guess I'm all done with DC except that I'm eager to see more of the Multiverse movie figures. I hope that they turn out more like the 66 Batman figures, which look great, and not like the giant-headed Man of Steel Movie Masters Faora. Also hoping for Joker, Ursa, Non, Jor-El, and Lex Luthor to be in the next movie wave (I know it won't happen but I also hope for Lois Lane, Vicki Vale, Max Shreck, BDW Harvey Dent, Palance's Boss Grissom, and some of the other movies' characters like Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Helen Slater Supergirl, Faye Dunaway's Selina, and Batman Forever Robin. And if they could skip the movie Batgirl and make Dina Meyer's Batgirl from the Birds of Prey TV show I'd have my dream movie era line up).